WPQ - Welder Performance Qualification
- Mike Hartnett
- Tammy Johnson
This section has information on WPQs or Welder Performance Qualifications (AKA Welder Quals, Welder Test, Welder Coupon).
WPQs can be thought of as "what was done by a specific welder and what that qualifies him to" in terms of welding. There will typically be at least one WPQ for every PQR. Generally there will be more WPQs than any other document type. The first WPQ made after the PQR is typically that of the Welder that welded the coupon. The PQR essentially allows the Company to do "x" and the WPQ allows the Welder to do "y". The WPQ can be thought of as a combination of the PQR and the WPS for one specific Welder as it holds both the Actual Values and the Range Qualified based on those values. The same basic WPQ many however be copied for multiple welders (allowing many welders to have similar qualification ranges to allow flexibility in management). Each WPQ is associated with just 1 Welder in ProWrite but WPQ number can be duplicated across WPQs so every welder in a shop may have their own "WPQ 6".
As indicated above the first WPQ is also a PQR typically. Following that WPQ other coupons will be WPQs only. Just as with PQRs they are welded on "test coupons" (physical components joined together made of plate or pipe) that are typically destructively or radio-graphically tested to assure compliance with a given specification/Code. A "Bend Test" where the coupon is bent in a given direction to assure any failure of the coupon occurs above a given value and in a given portion of the coupon (e.g. above the base metals tensile strength with the failure in the base metal not the weld metal). WPQs are used to build Welders qualification ranges and can be analyzed to show a welder is qualified to a given WPS even if that WPS is not associated with the WPQ or PQR.
In ProWrite S9 a WPQ can be made from a WPQ Template, a PQR, a WPS or as a stand alone document. A WPQ in ProWrtie D1.1 can be made from a WPS or as a stand alone document.
For more information of document flow in ProWrite please see-
http://thinkcei.com/think-tank/thinktank/2015/02/06/document-creation-in-prowrite
Note: When a WPQ is created from a PQR, WPS or WPQ Template the WPQ values are set at that moment of creation from a snapshot of the information on that PQR, WPS, or WPQ Template. There is not an ongoing relationship between the documents.